The city is moving ahead with several new components of last year’s Safer Sixth Street initiative, with police, fire and emergency services staff already using a new staging area on Neches Street intended to improve response times for medical needs and “no-notice” events. In a memo released last week, Joe Chacon, chief of the Austin […]
District 9
Posted inPlanning
Sixth Street plans could create cushion for new incubator music venues
While new mega-capacity venues such as the Moody Center (capacity 15,000) or the Moody Amphitheater (5,000) attract high-ticket tours from established performers, the smaller clubs that can hold 300 people or less are often the most threatened by the city’s hot real estate market as rising rents clash with profit margins that typically top out […]
Posted inAustin
Alamo Drafthouse owners bought an old school and promised affordable housing. Years later, there is none.
For a moment, the possibilities for a former school building in one of Austin’s most coveted neighborhoods seemed endless. A contemporary arts center with space for restaurants. What about a community theater? The 4-acre spot in Hyde Park, several groups suggested, could be used to build homes public school teachers could afford. Even in 2017, […]
Posted inPlanning
Council endorses development bonuses near the Capitol
A rule prohibiting tall buildings near the Texas Capitol may soon be relaxed, opening up a sleepy part of downtown to more development. City Council passed a resolution Thursday that would allow properties currently under the Capitol Dominance Overlay – which limits building height within a quarter-mile of the Capitol – to participate in the […]
Posted inPlanning
Stream Realty reveals plans for reinventing ‘dirty Sixth’
If the downtown Sixth Street entertainment district is going to achieve a successful transformation in the coming years, the first real glimpse of its future will come from the improvements planned for the north side of the two blocks between Neches and Sabine streets. Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners owns an uninterrupted stretch of properties there […]
Posted inDevelopment
More dominoes fall in Austin’s disappearing warehouse district
As tensions erupted over plans to redevelop Fourth Street at the last meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission, the case of a brick warehouse on the corner of Sixth and Lavaca was caught in a three-way crossfire that flew more under the radar. After an initial postponement for further research, the commission voted to initiate […]
Posted inHousing
Neighborhood association attempts to put kibosh on housing for the homeless
Advocates and city officials often say affordable housing is the key to ending homelessness. But as a rezoning case heard Tuesday at the Planning Commission showed, this type of housing can be hard to build, due in part to neighborhood opposition. A group of affordable housing developers plans to turn three lots at 1004-1008 E. […]
Posted inPlanning
Memo says bonds needed to meet affordability goals for waterfront redevelopment
To reach the goal of bringing about 500 units of affordable housing to the South Central Waterfront District, the city would need voters to approve more bond funds, for as much as $60 million. The prospects for planned affordable housing for the area south of the Congress Avenue bridge were among several issues discussed in […]
Posted inPlanning
Developer releases proposal to clean up East Sixth Street
Following years of public outcry over the deterioration of East Sixth Street, Dallas-based Stream Realty has stepped forward with aspirations to give the notoriously rowdy block a facelift. Real estate attorney Richard Suttle stopped by last Wednesday’s meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission to share a preliminary look at Stream’s vision. Increasing height and density, […]
Posted inPreservation
Move to initiate historic zoning gives Fourth Street preservationists a glimmer of hope
The Historic Landmark Commission hosted a lively public hearing Wednesday with a diverse cast of characters who had gathered to voice their opinions on the controversial redevelopment of Fourth and Colorado. After compelling testimony from both supporters and those opposed, the landmark commission moved unanimously to initiate historic zoning of all properties within the proposed […]
Posted inPlanning
Venue capacity still under negotiation in Austin Opry House rezoning
A proposal to bring back renowned music venue Austin Opry House might have sailed through City Council if not for neighbors concerned about one thing: venue capacity. Because of neighbors fearing traffic and boisterous concertgoers from the proposed 1,200-capacity venue, the rezoning won’t be decided until at least June – nine months after the project’s […]
Posted inRoads
Nueces Street in West Campus to be converted to two-way road
The city of Austin will start work this summer to convert one-way Nueces Street between 24th and Guadalupe streets into a two-way thoroughfare, part of a long-planned project that fits with the voter-approved vision to run light rail down the Drag. The more immediate changes include installing crosswalks and a traffic signal at Nueces and […]